let me finish tonight with the stalking of senator hagel. those who don't want this man as pentagon chief will stop at nothing. they're out there beating the bushes right now for anything that will slow the process of his confirmation, anything that will give them more time to find something they can build enough on to bring the man down. question. who are they trying to bring down? is it president obama's pick for secretary of defense? or is it the man the american people have chosen?

is it about a confirmation or a desperate push to undermine the president's second term? listen to those attacking senator hagel, and you hear the yelps of pain this motley crew of neocons and right-wingers from the sun belt feel even though from the american people's choice of last november. what they hate, despise really, is the fact now in the history books that the american people in great numbers reject their war-like jingoistic notions of what america stands for. their problem is not with obama's choice for a cabinet appointment. their problem is with america's choice of who it wants to be president, who it wants deciding what we should be doing in this world. obama works for peace. he works hard for it. this crowd has other ideas. and that's "hardball" for now. happy valentine's, everybody. what a day. and thanks for being with us tonight. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. i get some backup tonight. james carville is here to explain why it's still the economy, stupid. this is "the ed show."

let's get to work. >> we've got to make sure hard work's rewarded with a wage that you can live on and raise a family on. >> the president demands fairness. but even his call for a $9 minimum wage is way off. tonight, the great james carville on how american workers are getting stiffed and what the democrats can do about it. breaking news. wealthy tax fat cats who have got offshore bank accounts, especially in switzerland, beware. i'll tell you why today's announcement from the white house is a major blow for tax evaders. plus, the historic filibuster of the president's pick for defense secretary reaches a boiling point. >> we've never had a secretary of defense filibustered before. the nra reaches another new low. the roasting of marco rubio continues. the tea party gets busted with pandas. and mary carillo of nbc sports

on the olympic blade runner charged with killing his model girlfriend. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. well, the president of the united states, he's out there fighting for the american worker while the republicans are fighting to keep people poor. and of course, the proof is in the latest debate over the minimum wage. president obama held a live question and answer session on google today. he explained why the current minimum wage just isn't cutting it. >> increases in productivity in our economy are helping a lot of folks at the top, less folks in the middle, and at the bottom. and wages and incomes have not gone up even as productivity and the profits from productivity have gone sky high. >> well, my friends, once again, this is an issue about economic fairness in america. going to give you some stats on what workers are doing. worker productivity has gone through the roof. in the past 60 years. but the minimum wage has not

kept pace. so where are we? people are working harder for much less. and if the minimum wage kept up with productivity, where would we be? well, it would be at $21.72 an hour. think about that. think about our economy if people had that kind of disposable income. the president is proposing $9, a third of what the amount really should be if you do the math? now, this country does not and never has had a good record of raising the minimum wage in recent history especially. the current wage was only reached in 2009 after three years of minimum minor increases. you have to go back to 1997 to find the last time it was really increased, to $5.15 an hour. but republicans seem determined to keep the wage as low as they possibly can, below the poverty line. and this is what the president talked about the other night in the state of the union address. it's getting people out of poverty. marco rubio came out against raising the minimum wage, between sips of water.

so is paul ryan. he's against it. house speaker john boehner actually says raising it would be unfair to workers? >> a lot of people who are being paid the minimum wage are being paid that because they come to the workforce with no skills. and this makes it harder for them to acquire the skills they need in order to climb that ladder successfully. >> how convoluted is that? the message from john boehner, if you're a low-skilled worker, hey, stay poor. democrats are ready to pounce all over this. white house senior adviser dan pfeiffer asked republicans for an actual plan to ensure full-time workers will not live in poverty. the president plans to press the issue hard as he takes it -- makes it a big part of his policy agenda on the road. republicans, they are all over the place in response. for instance, take congresswoman marcia blackburn of tennessee. she said a low minimum wage was good for her when she got her first job. >> i remember my first job. when i was working in a retail

store, growing up down there in laurel, mississippi, i was making like $2.15 an hour. and i was being taught how to responsibly handle those customer interactions. and i appreciated that opportunity. >> oh, it's all about character building with the republicans. that's what it is. don't want to pay anybody. get your character right. blackburn's calculation, my friends, is way off the mark. after inflation her $2.15 an hour job would be worth between $12 and $14 an hour today, depending on what year she started this job. blackburn actually -- you know what she's doing? she's making the case for doubling the current minimum wage. if marsha blackburn of tennessee had to survive on today's minimum wage in 1968, she would have made $1.10 an hour. even though the actual minimum wage continues to slightly rise, it has not kept pace with inflation over the years. the lowest income workers are

the ones who suffer. and let's be honest. the only reason republicans oppose a minimum wage hike is because two of the biggest donors to the republican party, well, they're against it. and i'm talking about the united states chamber of commerce and let's not forget the national restaurant association. republicans think these two groups are more important than people living below the poverty line. this is the gop idea of fairness? this is the rebranding of america? they're going to be against this? i've told you all along on this show they are against workers, they're against workers' voices in the workplace, and they're not going to raise the minimum wage. and if they're going to filibuster hagel, they're sure as hell not going to let the minimum wage go to $9 an hour. they're against workers. they've always been against workers. you can do the math. you can play with the years and the trends and everything else. worker productivity in this country is absolutely awesome. but you know what? we just have a hard time paying people. get your cell phones out. want to know what you think.

tonight's question. what is more important to the republican party? text a for corporate profits. text b for people. here's the number. 67622. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com and leave a comment. we encourage you to do that. we'll bring you the results later on in the program. now, joining me tonight for the first news interview. james carville, democratic strategy exist political consultant and author of the book "it's the middle class, stupid." you know what? the word "stupid" works for you because you back in the early '90s, you were saying it's the economy, stupid. >> right. >> james-g to have you on the program. glad to have you with us tonight. >> good to be here and good to see the man from the prairie is on fire tonight. it's a topic that lights you up, ed. >> it's the workers. it's always about the workers. i mean, if you're going to be fair to people for doing a job when you've got corporate profits going through the roof, the highest in the last 20 years, why can't we do something for workers? i commend the president and democrats for doing something on

this. but james, to your point and what you've said in the past, it's the economy, stupid, that still plays in 2013, doesn't it? >> well, not only does it play in 2013 but raising the minimum wage according to every credible study in the last 20 years has no effect on job creation. that's the first thing to remember. the second thing to remember is that the same people that don't want to raise the minimum wage want to eliminate all taxes on corporate profits, want to eliminate all taxes on -- all estate taxes, even on estates over $5 million, want to eliminate all taxes on capital gains. i mean, how much do you have when you look at the productivity line and you look at the corporate profit lines and they can't raise it $7.25 an hour is too much for somebody. in spite of the fact that there's no credible evidence in the last 20 years to show that raising that has any effect on employment. so the points, the actual research is much stronger in your favor than anybody would have orange liu thougiginally t.

>> how about the president's strategy? there's firearms, there's immigration reform going on. it's the economy. no question about it. and then of course there's a bunch of filibusters. in this environment right now, how does this change? what should the president do? >> well, i think he's laid a proposal out there. i think it's a good proposal. i think in the end what'll probably happen is he'll get it through if he sticks to it and he'll negotiate. it might not be $9 an hour, but maybe it's 8.25ds an hour. look, if you're right there on the brink of making $7.25 an hour, a dollar an hour more might mean something to you. look, in new orlealouisiana, in where i live right now, they have a 9.5% sales tax. they're talking about raising it to 14% maybe. can you imagine what that does to a minimum wage worker down here? it just slaughters people. thank god we've got people that are willing to stand up and point out what's going on here, how you can help these people without having any effect on employment.

i don't know why we haven't done this a long time ago to tell you the truth. >> let's talk about congress for a moment. today we saw officially just an unprecedented filibuster of defense secretary nominee chuck hagel. is this the worst you've ever seen in congress? >> well, you know, we always say it's the worst. the republicans are just having a hard time. they got their bell rung, and they're trying to fight against hagel, who is actually a republican. mccain seems to be trying to figure a way to get out of this. this thing with rubio last night was just a first-class mess on their part. karl and the tea party are fighting with each other. you know, it's going to take them a little while to figure out where they're going. but right now they're just all confused and don't quite know what way to go. and all they can do is say just the same thing. if you look at rubio, it's the same speech you've heard for the last 30 years. it's nothing there. >> americans get -- i think are upset about this. that's not the term i'd like to use on tv. i'd be a little more brash abou.

across the country. number one, they're going on vacation for a couple weeks when we've got this thing looming on march 1st, the sequester. what evidence do we have out there that shows the 113th is going to be any different from the 112th, that they're not going to be a record number of filibusters when they're doing this to chuck hagel today? i mean, i think this is the tea leaves, isn't it? >> actually, we don't have any evidence. what always amaze me, when they say that congress has a disapproval of 89 and an approval of 9, i always wonder who is the 9? i never met any of them. but look, they didn't get -- they lost the popular vote for the house. the reason they're there is because of a combination of population patterns and jerry mandering. and they got beat bad in the election and they're confused and they're mad. and the public is watching how mad they are. somehow or another they think by acting mad they're going to -- >> but they don't like obama. they don't want to give him anything. that's what it's.

>> no, they never have liked him. >> we've got a little footage from an old movie called "the war room." you may recognize this guy. here it is. >> james carville is known as the ragin' cajun in the business. >> let me tell you what's at stake in this election. it's about george bush and the whole sleazy little cabal of them. you're going to get tax breaks for the wealthy. you're going to get a guy who doesn't know what a grocery store scanner is. >> you know, you said things back then that aren't much different from the way you're saying them right now. i mean, what needs to happen to get this economic message of fairness through to washington? i mean, this really is -- we've got 35 months of private sector job growth, and the republicans are doing everything they can to knock us off the track. they won't do anything on jobs. so what's your prediction on this? >> ed, what i think is we have a humanitarian crisis of the first order. unemployment rate is unacceptably high. caused by lax standards during -- in finance that caused a crash in our economy. we have to recognize that.

we have not been able to get incomes -- growth for middle income americans, and we've got to sit down and i think the president started on a good path last night. i think some of the things he did were great. i hope he builds on that. and i think the middle class in this country is desperate for a strategy to help them out of this. and some of the things he proposes. i think this early learning, this preschool stuff is terrific in the long term, but we really right now have a terrible humanitarian crisis with unemployed people we have in this country. hopefully, we can sort of deal with that and cut out this deficit obsession here for the nievgs years or so. >> all right. james carville, great to have you on "the ed show." you can come back from new orleans anytime you want, my friend. >> good to see you, my friend. >> thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen, share your thoughts with us on twitter, @edshow and on facebook. we always want to know what you think. if you have money in a swiss bank account, you're in for a real surprise. howard dean joins me to discuss a major breakthrough on stopping offshore tax evasion. stay with us. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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ted cruz has been silenced, but republicans still filibuster chuck hagel? and the tea party hits a new low. this might be the worst smear of hillary clinton ever. our panel reacts to that tonight. a shocking story out of south africa. one of the stars of the london olympics shoots and kills his famous girlfriend in the middle of the night. emmy award-winning broadcaster mary carillo will join us for this story. don't forget you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday noon to 3:00 p.m. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using the #edshow. we're coming right back. [ male announcer ] i've seen incredible things.

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welcome back to "the ed show." big story tonight. there is a big pot of money outside of the united states. and it will help reduce the deficit. now, we've all heard about it. we've got to find revenue streams to come in. well, let's do this. two simple words. tax evasion. today the united states signed a major agreement with switzerland to crack down on tax evaders at a time when the treasury department has already been steadily turning the screws on tax evaders in getting concrete results. this agreement with switzerland will help implement a law passed in 2010, the foreign account tax compliance act, or fatca. this will be a major blow to tax evaders since switzerland is truly, you could call it the motherland for tax evaders. the law requires foreign banks to inform the irs of any american offshore accounts

holding more than $50,000. as this law takes effect, and i mean full effect, it's going to be a lot harder for the wealthiest americans to hide their money overseas. neil wollen, the acting treasury secretary, said today's announcement makes a significant step forward in our efforts to combat offshore tax evasion. now, the united states now has reached agreements with eight countries including the united kingdom. the united states plans to forge adwreemgreements with 50 countr count them, five zero. even before today the treasury department was starting to aggressively pursue tax evaders. the united states government has already won about 50 criminal cases and collected more than $5.5 billion by finding undeclared offshore accounts. and you have to wonder, is this just the beginning? the moral of the story. what's wrong with having your money here in the united states?

nothing. joining me now is howard dean, former governor of vermont and also the former chairman of the dnc. governor, good to have you with us. >> thanks, ed, for having me on. >> this is kind of long overdue, isn't it? >> it is, and it's a great thing. it's not going to put a big dent in the deficit. the real reason it's important is because the morale in this country's been eroded by the enormous gap between the wealthy, who don't play by the same rules as everybody else, and ordinary people who are making a living. and this is going to make the wealthy folks pay -- and not all wealthy folks are doing this, but there's a small percentage that are, and they're now going to pay their fair share. this is really important for making this country work. it's not going to raise gazillions of dollars to deal with the deficit but they are going to send a message to people that everybody's going to play by the same rules. >> you know, this is a revenue stream. and if we did something about tax havens and other corporate loopholes that's another revenue stream. >> corporate loopholes is a much bigger revenue stream than this. that's a really big revenue stream. now we're talking about hundreds

of billions of dollars. >> how should the administration go about this? >> we need to close some of these. even in the supposed deficit reduction, even in the bill they signed in january, the supposed compromise, there were corporate loopholes that lobbyists got stuff stuck in. one-liners at the last minute. the tax code's a mess. and it is a mess because corporate lobbyists are making it a mess. >> how do you go about getting the republicans to get on board to close corporate tax loopholes? >> this is, interestingly enough, if you could work with some tea party people, some of it would see it this way. i'm not talking about the ted cruzes of the world, who's just kind of a prima donna. but the ordinary back benchers, they don't like cheating on your taxes any better than anybody else. they're not necessarily big business people. so even though they're way out there on social issues and intolerant and all that, they could potentially be allies in reforming the tax code. >> there is more good news on revenue. the cost of medicare and medicaid are now projected to be

15% less by the year 2020 according to the congressional budget office. health care costs increased at their lowest rate in decades for the fourth year in a row. this has gotten very little attention. health care experts do not fully understand the causes, but they agree that part of the reason is a change in the health care delivery system, including financial incentives and obama care. what do you make of that? >> it is true. obama care hasn't gone into effect yet for the most part, but this is an odd thing that was never intended by the people who wrote obama care in the legislature who were basically feathering the nest of the insurance companies. what has happened here is the private sector, and we are going to have a private sector-based system, has now understood that they have to change the fundamental incentives in how you pay for health care. and it's already beginning to happen in advance of the effective date of most of obama care because the insurance companies and the hospitals know they can't continue to do business the way they're doing business. it's really quite an extraordinary development. >> well, it is an extraordinary

development. and president obama, of course, continually made the case that this law would bend the cost curve, and we're seeing it here before any of the experts called it. >> that is true, ed. but i -- you know, they were making that argument based on ipad working or something like that. the real reason is -- and i say this as a guy who wanted a public option very badly. >> sure. >> is that if -- because it's in the private sector the private sector is actually figuring out how to -- they understand that they can't continue to drive costs up like this and they're actually -- they're the ones that are actually going to bend -- and are bending the cost curve. >> i want your take on march 1st. the sequester. budget cuts across the board. how do we avoid it when the congress is going home? >> i'm an outlier in this. i think we ought to go over the cliff and i reason we should is we will never in our lifetime see an opportunity to cut the pentagon like this. we've had fat in the pentagon for 30 years. nobody's done a damn thing about it. if there's a compromise on sequester, some good things will happen because there are some people that are going to get hurt if we go over the cliff, but we have an opportunity here to cut the most bloated agency

in all of government and serious cutting, and i think we ought to take it. >> we could take $45 billion this year out of the military budget. you're okay with that? >> yes, i am. and i think we can do that and we can make it work. you know there, have been tons of programs in the pentagon that the pentagon never wanted. that congresspeople have put in there. >> sure. howard dean, great to have you with us. always. >> thanks. >> appreciate it. wayne lapierre might be one of the greatest hucksters of all time. i'll show you what's behind his paranoia campaign next. tea party backers show a perverse sense of humor by creating a hillary clinton sex tape. david corn broke the story. he joins us on the panel tonight. stay with us. ♪ you know my heart burns for you... ♪

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mr. president, we will stand and fight throughout this country as americans for our freedom. we promise you that. every single one of us from one end of the country to the other. >> fight. what kind of fight is he talking about? nra ceo wayne lapierre called on supporters to stand and fight after president obama's call for a vote on gun safety legislation. now it's bad to vote i guess. but lapierre's speech staytoday pretty much tame compared to his recent op-ed of the same name. tloins this. hurricanes, riots, tornadoes, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are perils that

we are sure to face, not just maybe. it's not paranoia to buy a gun. it's survival. are you kidding me? i mean, this is the post-apocalyptic america wayne lapierre is selling right now. see, lapierre describes the inevitable invasion of latin american drug gangs and al qaeda of course will hit our shores. an america where police cease to exist because of the deficit under president obama. i guess we're not going to have cops anymore. and an america where lapierre says it's necessary to own a gun to protect yourself. you've just got to have one of these things. you know? this is wayne lapierre's america. and pretty much it does make sense because wayne lapierre and the nra, they're not lobbying for the rights for responsible gun owners the way they claim they are. wayne lapierre and the nra, they are bought and they are paid for, my friends. they are pushing a product. they are selling guns. here's the real america.

92% of americans support universal background checks. including 91% of americans in a household with a gun. you see, most supporters of the second amendment are supporters of common sense reform, but wayne lapierre, he won't tell you that. background checks are bad for business. here's the real america. 52% of americans in a household with a firearm support a ban on assault weapons. and that number's growing. this is not wayne lapierre's america. but 62% of americans in a household with a gun still think the national rifle association better reflects their views on firearms. my fellow americans, my fellow gun owners, i think we kind of need to wake up on this deal, you know. you see, wayne lapierre and the nra's america is not your america. stand and fight but stand and fight for what's right and responsible. >> i will point out that right now this committee knows absolutely nothing about the

personal compensation chuck hagel received in 2008 and 2009 or 2010. >> up next, the big panel on the historic obstruction of the president's pick for defense secretary, and why republicans cannot get their act together. plus, david corn breaks the story on the pandemonium zroungd a freedomworks hillary clinton parody. and later, the late-night laughs over marco rubio's watergate. >> don't worry, senator rubio. nobody noticed that you gave a speech. and olympic star, oscar pistorius, is charged with killing his girlfriend. mary carillo of nbc sports knows the olympic star as well as any journalist. she joins me tonight. mom always got good nutrition to taste great. she was a picky eater. well now i'm her dietitian and last year, she wasn't eating so well. so i recommended boost complete nutritional drink

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us. senate republicans. well, you know what? they hit a new low today by blocking the president's nominee for defense secretary. this man didn't deserve this. just a few hours ago republicans refused to allow an up or down vote and instead they decided to delay the confirmation until january -- until february 25th, when they come back from a ten-day vacation. they've just been working so damn hard they've got to take some time off. this has been a day mixed -- a day of mixed signals for defense secretary nominee chuck hagel. senators mccain and graham joined in the filibuster of hagel shortly after saying that they will vote for his confirmation after the recess. meanwhile, republicans keep insisting, oh, this is not a filibuster. >> this isn't a filibuster today. people are trying to say that and blame me as being the bad guy that's causing a filibuster. it's not the case at all. >> this is showing a chip on one shoulder about israel, an unhealthy statement to say the least, and i think patently false but unnerving to a guy

like me. >> i wanted to know if he had learned from his mistakes. unfortunately, i'm not confident that he has. >> we're not filibustering and we would -- we don't want to string this thing out. >> rookie senator ted cruz is leading the charge for the obstructionist republicans, but he couldn't talk about it today because he's reportedly lost his voice. two days ago cruz was healthy enough to accuse chuck hagel of having ties to iran and north korea. he made those accusations without any evidence. >> it may be that he spoke at radical or extreme groups or anti-israel groups and accepted financial compensation. we don't know. it is at a minimum relevant to know if that $200,000 that he deposited in his bank account came directly from saudi arabia, came directly from north korea. >> senators mccain and nelson tried to keep cruz in check, but today senator james inhofe defended the new texas senator with this bizarre question. >> it's a process. he's not making any accusations.

he says i just want to have what i've asked for. i regret -- he's very articulate. i regret that he lost his voice today, but it is kind of funny. >> here's what the white house has done for the committee. they've attended 20 briefings, 10 congressional hearings, and six witness interviews. the white house has answered over 40 benghazi-related inquiries and produced 10,000 pages of documents. none of this has satisfied those leading the witch hunt against chuck hagel. during a google hangout this afternoon the president weighed in on the first ever filibuster of a secretary of defense nominee. >> it's just unfortunate that this kind of politics intrudes at a time when i'm still presiding over a war in afghanistan and i need a secretary of defense who is coordinating with our allies to make sure that our troops are getting the kind of strategy and mission that they deserve. >> all right. let's go to the big panel tonight. let's turn to bloomberg view columnist jonathan alter with

us. also michelle goldberg of "newsweek" and the daily beast. and david corn of "mother jones" magazine. great to have all of you with us. jonathan, you first tonight. is this unprecedented filibuster a sign that the senate is totally broken? what do you make of what unfolded today? >> well, i just think it's a really unfortunate signal that the united states is sending to the world when as the president indicated you have, you know, conflicts abroad. and for us to say that we can't even conduct regular business and confirm an eminently qualified candidate to run the pentagon, it's sad. and if i were a veteran who had been an enlisted man or woman in the u.s. military and if any are watching tonight, if i were you i'd say you deserve a vote. you know, he would be the first enlisted man ever to head the pentagon. i think enlisted personnel deserve some representation. and that the grunt's view at the pentagon is a real

recommendation for chuck hagel. it would be interesting to start to hear from that community about how they feel about his being filibustered. >> michelle, your thoughts on this. i mean, isn't this harry reid's fault? harry had a chance to change the rules of the senate and he was too nice to mitch mcconnell and now look what we've got. there's probably more to come. your thoughts. >> i suppose so, though i remember not very long ago when we were all suffering under the george w. bush administration and there was a real fear that without the filibuster then george bush would have been able to put some of his very radical extremists on the bench and push through more of his agenda. so i understand the reticence to kind of unleash the nuclear option. and you know, i don't think you can necessarily blame harry reid for the unprecedented not just obstructionism but kind of paranoid lunacy of this new crop of senators who, you know, before i think we used to see this sort of incredibly paranoid

mccarthyite apocalyptic view of american foreign policy among some of the characters in the house -- >> doesn't that make the case for why harry should have done, this because of the ted cruzes of the world and the tea parties of the world? they're trying to stop absolutely everything. i do kind of blame harry right now. he had a chance to fix this. david, your thoughts. >> you know, i think that harry reid made a call that the democrats may end up the minority position in the years ahead and he doesn't want to totally get rid of the filibuster. you can blame him, but really you've got to look at the people who are leading this phony charge. and we have to -- the way they're sort of burdening the senate now, so if you don't like what the administration did on benghazi, which is not really a department of defense issue, then you penalize the department of defense by not letting a transition proceed there when we're fighting a war overseas. and you have people like lindsey graham and john mccain who claim to be patriots who care about the pentagon and claim to care

about the military, but yet they're really showing a lot of pique here. if we don't get what they want out of the administration on a completely separate issue they're going to penalize. they're going to penalize the pentagon. and that just to me is really not mature. it's not playing grown-ups. it's just using political leverage for your own hobbyhorse. and this is an issue that the president and others should try to take to the public -- >> my point in this is it could have been avoided. this is what elections are about. you get to be in a position to chait rules of the senate. you can't worry about the next senate. that's how i view it. and what could happen. the rules of the senate are not as important as running the country when we've got some critical issues -- >> i think that's a perfectly legitimate position to take, ed. and you know, i see it from both sides. but you know, harry reid decided not to go nuclear, which this would have been. and you know, that has its ups and downs. >> a couple of other reforms, ed. it's still possible for senators to put holds on bills.

why? why should one senator be able to top the u.s. senate? so there were some other reforms that harry reid could have taken short of going the nuclear option. >> here's another example of the right-wing conservative causing trouble for the republicans. congressman lamar smith of texas heard testimony last week on immigration reform. this is what he wrote in an op-ed for politico. "democrats have done the math and realize that legalization inevitably would give them millions of votes, meaning more victories in congressional and presidential elections." michelle, what do you make of this? i mean, is this congressman smith saying that immigration reform would help the democrats because too many of them would go to the democratic cam s&p. >> yeah. of course that's what he's saying. the piece was really -- the piece was fascinating because it was basically -- it started out by saying we don't need immigration reform to appeal to hispanics because hispanics will vote for us on economic and small government issues. and then in the same article he basically admits that if we have more latino voters we're going

to have more democratic voters because they're completely turned off from our platform. >> sure. all right. finally, david corn, you made some shocking discoveries about a republican super pac called freedomworks that we all know about. tell us about that. >> well, i discovered in a series of stories i've been working on on this very important conservative group that last summer they produced a promotional video that they were going to show at a big conservative conference in dallas in july that had a scene in which the second in command of the group, adam brandon, executive vice president, wakes up from a dream, walks down a hallway, and he sees a giant panda -- now, this is a female intern playing a giant panda -- with her head in the lap of a woman wearing a hillary clinton mask and appears to be performing -- i hate to say this on tv. oral sex on the then secretary of state. it was supposed to be some sort of bizarre parody, and he was going to play it for tens of -- 10,000, 15,000 conservative activists, including social conservatives up until the point where some members on his staff

said no, don't do this. he fought to get it out, but it didn't happen. >> jonathan alter, what do you think of this? >> making this obscene video. and i think right now it's probably in the process -- freedomworks is under an internal investigation and may very well implode in the months ahead. >> well, they gave former house majority leader dick armey $8 million to walk away. the organization is imploding. they had somebody come in there with a gun, you know, with armey to try to enforce -- this is just a very representative example of what's happened to the far right super pacs. it's gone from the citizens united case, which was originally about an anti-hillary film, to this kind of insanity. they've just i think destroyed themselves. they're completely out of touch with the american people. good riddance. >> all right. jonathan alter, michelle goldberg, david corn, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks. in less than a week marco rubio has gone from republican savior on the cover of "time" to the butt of jokes. stay straight ahead. we're going to talk about what

they're doing in late-night tv. president obama gives a valentine's day executive order during a google plus hangout. ed show twitter nation responds, next. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply. ya. alright, another one just like that. right in the old bucket. good toss! see that's much better! that was good. you had your shoulder pointed, you kept your eyes on your target. let's do it again -- watch me. just like that one... [ male announcer ] the durability of the volkswagen passat. pass down something he will be grateful for.

good arm. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ back to you. yes. i know you know. now, my husband mark davis believes that valentine's day is just a made-up hallmark holiday designed to separate him from his hard-earned money, and he never celebrates. mr. president, on the behalf of all american women, will you please right now issue an executive order via google hangout for my husband mark

davis to spoil me this valentine's day? >> can i just say, mark? i think here's the general rule. if mama's happy, everybody's happy. so do right, man. you will pay a higher price later. >> maybe the soundest advice ever. you can go to our facebook page and see the rest of the google plus hangout. and don't forget to listen -- or don't forget to like "the ed show" when you are there. and by the way, wendy, happy valentine's day, honey. who loves you? i do. last summer a paralympian became famous for competing in the london olympics. today oscar pistorius is unbelievably famous for all the wrong things. mary carillo joins us. we'll be right back. this is america.

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rough week for rubio. florida senator marco rubio was cashing in on his watered down

state of the union response less than a day after the incident. rubio's super pac reclaim america started selling this water bottle. until tuesday night rubio inspired republicans when he was even known as the republican savior. but now he's become a savior to late-night talk show hosts. comedians were staying hydrated last night. >> nothing has frustrated me more than false choices like the one the president laid out tonight. >> don't worry, senator rubio. nobody noticed that you gave a speech. >> be honest. how many never heard of marco rubio until last night? yeah. how many thought marco rubio was a game you played in the pool with the kids? >> why was the water so far away? it would have been less awkward if he reached down the front of his pants to get it. >> and he actually reached over and took a sip from a tiny

bottle of water thats -- by the end i was waiting for him to -- >> always maintaining eye contact with the home viewer and connect, connecting with the audience on a human level. you know, makes them overlook your difficulties. >> tonight in our survey i asked you, what is more important to the republican party? 98% of you say corporate profits. 2% of you say people. coming up, mary carillo of nbc sports weighs in on the blade runner saga. stay tuned. [ whistle blows ]

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it's gentle and clinically proven to help restore and maintain regularity. look for citrucel today. and in the big finish tonight, it is a shocking dark turn for a beloved athlete who has inspired millions around the globe. 26-year-old oscar pistorius of south africa made history last year as the first double amputee runner to compete in the olympics using prosthetic blades. tonight he is in a south african jail charged with murder. pistorius is being held in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, model reeva steenkamp. police arrived at pistorius's home early this morning and found steenkamp dead from multiple gunshot wounds. the circumstances of her death are still unclear, but authorities say pistorius will remain in custody until a hearing tomorrow. police also revealed earlier that pistorius had been involved

in previous domestic incidents at his home. news that shocked fans worldwide. it's a turn of events for a man who is a global sports icon known as blade runner. he fought to compete in the london games alongside able-bodied athletes running on carbon fiber prosthetic blades. pistorius was born without fibulas, one of the two essential bones in the lower leg. mary carillo of nbc sports spent time with pistorius last year. >> reporter: his parents, sheila and hank pistorius, were told years of reconstructive surgery might be largely ineffective. they chose the gut-wrenching but more hopeful alternative. amputate the legs of their infant below the knee. >> and wh i was 13 months old i got my first pair of prosthetic legs. in the morning she said to my brother he must put ofrn his shoes and i must put on my legs

and that's the last she wants to hear of any sort of disability. >> joining us, mary carillo, nbc news and sports contributor. good to have you on "the ed show" tonight. >> pleasure, ed. but i'm sorry we have to be talking about this tragedy. >> it is a terrible tragedy. a shocker to south africa, no doubt. and from everything i've read about oscar, it's so out of character. what is your read on this story? >> i got to spend days with oscar pistorius in the months before the olympic games. he hadn't even yet qualified for the olympics. he's been a long-time paralympian, but he wanted to compete in the able-bodied olympics. we were using up his time, days of, it you know, interviewing him, watching him train, watching him prepare for the games, and he could not have been more modest, more self-effacing. so soft spoken. i mean, he was so patient with us, because we were asking a lot of him. it's so inkong ruous that he could be capable of this kind of a moment in his life, ed.

i've been to his house. it's in a gated community. we were warned going to south africa, i'd been there before, and they always tell you there's a very high crime rate, be careful with your possessions, be aware of crowds and all of that. and oscar was certainly aware of all of that too. he's one of the most popular guys in south africa. he's got movie star looks. and he had guns in his house. there's no doubt about that. and he was worried about that kind of stuff. but still, that he could turn a gun on somebody, i'm still hoping that this was involuntary manslaughter, you know, that he didn't know that it was his girlfriend in his house at that time. it just doesn't seem possible. >> it doesn't seem possible. everything you know of oscar, it just doesn't add up. he was proficient with a firearm. did he ever talk about that with you? >> i mean, i knew he had them in his house. so i didn't personally see them. they were -- i guess he kept them up